CAMPAIGN COSTS: Four years ago, Vicky Howard...

CAMPAIGN COSTS: Four years ago, Vicky Howard and Bill Davis, colleagues on the Simi Valley City Council, spent $200,000 battling to be county supervisor. There were high personal costs as well. . . . “Let’s put it this way,” Davis said. “We still serve on (city-county) committees together, and we’re very cordial. But did we patch it up and become close friends again? No.” . . . Now, when Davis sees Supervisor Howard over their common back fence, “I say, ‘Hi, how are you?’ That’s it.”

CIVICS LESSON: Besides deciding the guilt of Mark Scott Thornton, the 20-year-old’s high-profile murder trial has become a compelling civics lesson (B1). Students have sat through testimony three times during the first week of trial. . . . At break, one Newbury Park high-schooler told Judge Charles McGrath that Thornton’s alleged crime made no sense. “I have yet to see a murder that has made any sense,” the jurist replied. “And this one surely doesn’t either.”

COOL PORT: Tiny Port of Hueneme has captured a piece of international trade by building the West Coast’s most modern refrigerated warehouse (Valley Business, Page 10). . . . With that fine fridge, Hueneme finally lured a shipping firm that hauls Sunkist Growers’ fruit overseas. . . . Port executives “continually came after me,” said Gerry Fountain, president of Cool Carriers USA. That persistence paid off with a 26% jump in port tonnage in the last fiscal year.

COURT CHALLENGE: County officials have decided to adopt a wait-and-see strategy if Prop. 187 passes today. . . . “We don’t do anything on the 9th of November,” said county Supt. of Schools Charles Weis. “We will wait until it’s been tested out a little bit.” Richard Wittenberg, county chief administrator, said county health officials fear a spread of disease if health care is denied illegal immigrants, but would abide by the new law. “I think that it will be challenged . . . and (delayed) in the courts for some time,” he said.

* The Top of Today’s News is on A2